Wisconsin WRAP

Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources has partnered with the American Chemistry Council’s Flexible Film Recycling Group and the Sustainable Packaging Coalition (SPC) on an innovative public/private plastic film recycling initiative called Wisconsin WRAP (Wrap Recycling Action Project)—Recycling Plastic Film Beyond Bags. This partnership focuses on recycling more plastic film found in nearly every business and household to significantly increase the recycling rate.

After assessing the existing infrastructure, WRAP Partners launched programs across the state. The most recent is an educational campaign in Milwaukee at ten Roundy’s retail locations. The program installed new plastic film collection bins and educates shoppers to return the items shown below to the store bins and not in their curbside recycling. Roundy’s recycles the material with the Trex Company, which turns it into composite decking or pellets for the manufacture of other products like new bags or pipe. If you’re in Milwaukee, share your photos of bag and film recycling in action on Facebook.

Sign up to Join Milwaukee as a WRAP Champion!

Does your community have a plastic bag and wrap recycling program already in place? Or are you interested in starting a program? Join this ambitious new initiative to keep plastic wrap out of landfills and recycle it instead. Be recognized as a WRAP Champion by doing simple steps like spreading the word or updating drop-off location information. SIGN UP OR LOG IN HERE.

Take Action

Sponsors & Partners

Statewide Public Awareness Campaign

WRAP partners and sponsors are proud to support campaigns in areas around the state, including the city of Milwaukee, and Dunn, Outagamie, and Eau Claire counties. The campaigns seek to educate consumers about recycling plastic film beyond bags at participating stores and improve recycling rates. For more information, contact Shari Jackson

Retailers

URGENT! If your store currently accepts bags and wrap from your customers, add your location(s) information to the Drop-Off Directory. Download this worksheet to help you collect store location data.

We are also looking for retailers to participate in the statewide educational campaign by adopting the plastic film recycling poster and educating consumers on the recyclability of bags and wraps. Click here to learn more, send store locations or to participate in a campaign in your area.

Schools

As part of the consumer awareness campaign, many Wisconsin schools participated in the Trex School Challenge, a school competition in which schools around the nation collect bags and film for recycling from November to April each school year. Any interested public or private K-12 school in Wisconsin can collect, weigh and recycle plastic film and bags. For more information about the competition, contact the Trex Company.

Recyclers, Haulers Distributors

Companies like yours provide the critical collection network to capture valuable scrap out of the commercial sector. Please get listed in the Recycler Directory and let more of your customers know about benefits to collecting plastic film.

The marketplace is changing, with less demand from Asian markets, but there are a number of domestic end markets for CLEAN, DRY polyethylene film. Use our tip sheets for information on how to optimize collection and quality. Additionally, the Association of Postconsumer Plastics Recyclers (APR) has developed an array of sample bale specifications for general use.

Responsible Units (Local Government)

Sign up to join WRAP, then encourage your residents and businesses to recycle their film and bags, and help populate the Recycler and Drop-Off Directories with organizations from your community. And, please consider sharing plastic film recycling information with your community on your website or through newsletters.

Manufacturers & Brand Companies

WRAP seeks help manufacturers turn waste into profit. Contact us to discover how plastic film is used and disposed of, and how best to structure a recycling program that benefits your company and your community.

Look for these new bag and film recycling bins at participating stores throughout the city

Milwaukee Commissioner of Public Work Ghassan A. Korban welcomes attendees to the launch of the WRAP consumer awareness campaign on October 10, 2013.

Trex Company Director of Material Resources Dave Heglas discusses the use of recycled plastic bags and wraps in his company's products.

Mayor Tom Barrett calls recycling plastic bags and wraps a 'no brainer' that saves the city money on waste disposal -- at right is a display of examples of the many plastic bags and wraps that can be recycled.